Are We Ready For Contact With Extraterrestrial Intelligence?

5/11/2014

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Do we need a better or
different kind of wakefulness of the universe in order to make interaction with
alien civilizations? The Search for
ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) mission is an initiative that originated
in the 1970s with aid from NASA. It has developed towards the partnership of
millions of Internet users for the handling of data from the Arecibo
Observatory (Puerto Rico), where space tracing is carried out. Lately members
of this project have been trying to go more deeply and not only hunt for
extraterrestrial signs, but also energetically send communications from Earth
to sense promising extraterrestrial civilizations. This is well-known as active
SETI.

Image via José Antonio Peñas/Sinc

Astrophysicists, like Stephen Hawking,
have by now informed of the risk that this indicates for humankind, as it could
favor the entrance of creatures with more radical technology and unsure purposes.
The moral and sociological suggestions of this scheme have now been examined by
the neuro-psychologist Gabriel de la Torre. Who is a professor at the University
of Cádiz. He said: “Can such a decision be taken on behalf of
the whole planet? What would happen if it was successful and ‘someone’ received
our signal? Are we prepared for this type of contact?” To response these questions,
the professor directed a survey to 116 Italian, Ameican and Spanish university
students. The survey measured their information of astronomy, their level of awareness
of the physical environment, their view on the place that things inhabit in the
space, along with religious questions, such as, “do you believe that God
created the universe?”, or on the possibility of interaction with aliens. The outcomes,
distributed in the journal Acta Astronautica, show that, as a species, humankind
is still not prepared for trying to energetically contact a supposed alien
civilization. The cause, according to Professor de la Torre is “people lack
knowledge and preparation.” His words were:

“This pilot study demonstrates that the
knowledge of the general public of a certain education level about the cosmos
and our place within it is still poor. Therefore, a cosmic awareness must be
further promoted — where our mind is increasingly conscious of the global
reality that surrounds us — using the best tool available to us: education. In
this respect, we need a new Galileo to lead this journey.”

Do we want a better or
different kind of awareness of the universe in order to accept contact from alien
civilizations? Neuro-psychologist Gabriel G. de la Torre says he considers we
do.